EXCLUSIVE: IDW Introduces Hasbro's First Transformers/Rom Hybrid Character



In July, IDW will launch “Rom Vs. Transformers: Shining Armor” by John Barber, Christos Gage and Alex Milne. The story, set nearly two centuries in the past, will focus on a brand new character named Stardrive who’s not just a Cybertronian, but also a Solstar Knight. She finds herself caught in the middle between her fellow knights — including Rom — and the constantly evil menace of Starscream!

Gage: She’s a great combo character… a Cybertronian infant rescued by Rom from a crashed spaceship. She grew up in the Solstar Order, so she’s never been around her own kind, until the events of our story. She’s very much a fish out of water, not really fitting in anywhere. She has a strong code of honor and a good heart, but they’ll be put to the test.

Barber: The reputation of Cybertronians has permeated every part of the civilized galaxy, so the Solstar Order know they’re bad news. Transformers have a tendency to destroy planets that get in their way — that’s all Stardrive knows about her heritage. She doesn’t fit in with organic life, but all she’s ever heard is how terrible Cybertronians are.

Barber: Starscream’s out to get glory and power for himself, and he sees an opportunity. Er, I guess that’s what Starscream always does. But he finds out about Stardrive, and he reasons that if there’s a Cybertronian in Solstar space, they must have some way of feeding her. And the lack of energon is a driving force for Cybertronians at this point in history; one that leads him on a collision course with the Solstar Knights.


She sounds interesting. Good luck!

 

Should be awesome to see.   Hope we can get Stardive as a toy in Generations in the future as well.

 

Looks interesting! And glad to see Alex back on a title, looking forward to this!

 

A cybertronian infant? I don't read IDW so can someone please explain how that works?

 

In IDW there are essentially two methods of creating new Transformers.

1. Forged: a spark is created somewhere on Cybertron via a pulse from Vector Sigma. This spark is harvested directly from the ground with nearby "living metal" which then shapes into a fully functional Transformer.

2. Constructed cold: A body is built and then injected with an artificial spark created by siphoning off energy from the matrix. These sparks are typically kept in a frozen state of inactivity before being placed in the body.

An infant in this case could fit either definition. For example a constructed cold bot is brought online without the typical "orientation program." If it is a forged bot, a still developing protoform could have been taken off planet and developed without Cybertronian influence.

Based on the gender side of things we have had no female constructed cold characters yet, so I'm guessing she is forged.

Edit: Also this sounds like a great idea for a crossover. Especially by setting it in the past, they avoid derailing the current storylines. I guess we'll also see what a Cybertronian/Dire Wraith fusion looks like since they were alluded to in a recent issue of ROM.

 

Oh, cool, this must be the secret project Alex had mentioned on Twitter. Pretty intrigued by the concept, and with Alex on art duties I'm definitely gonna be picking this up!

 

Figure or GTFO

 

ALL OF THE YES! I am SO EXCITED for this. In addition to Transformers, I'm a HUGE ROM fanboy, so this is everything I could want. And we'll be getting some more post-Cybertron, pre-Earth stuff, which we haven't gotten a ton of from the various TF series.

 

cool!

 

Interesting concept, will be keeping an eye on this.

Also very happy to see Milne's artwork.

 

For fuck's sake, Hasbro.

Make a Rom Titan Master. It's not hard. Just... just do it. We know you have the license. And it works with the scale. Just... make it.

 

False advertising, I do not see Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle\'s brother, anywhere!  

 

UGH!

 

Nice!

In this new expanded universe, it feels necessary to expand on the Transformers history interacting with other races, and this a perfect way to do it. Love to see history expanded.

Also helps to have Milne's gorgeous artwork.  

That would a bad(as in evil) combination.

 

I'm no expert on IDW or ROM, but am I the only one that thinks Stardive is a camien?

 

She most likely is. There are no "female" Transformers on Cybertron.
They never even understood the concept of "her" until Arcee and Windblade.
Cybertronian is a loose term that desrcibes all of them, like every one on Earth is a human, even if different color, gender, or from another country. Though the term itself is very losselt defined it IDW fiction.

The one plot hole I can already see is Starscream knowing of a female Cybertronian. Of course ypu could say he never realized it was a "she". As they wouldn't have known the difference. They could also the use the poor Memory Creep cop-out.

 

I'm not sure that's really a plot hole. Starscream and the other TFs could just assume it's a result of her being raised by aliens.

 

i'm into this for the art alone. also, stardrive looks like a sentai character and i dig it.

 

See, this is how you create a shared universe. Revolutions was just too big in terms of scope. This is much smaller, focused, and allowing to establish two franchises together. 

Hopefully we get more like this, like GI Joe vs MASK.

 

I think the female side of her is from her alien side, whatever it may be.